


Survival

by Lonelygirl9178



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Apocalypse, Exploring Planet, F/M, Fantasy, Future, Global Warming, New Planets, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original Fiction, Original Male Character(s) - Freeform, Outer Space, Planets, Rescue Missions, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Solar System, Spaceships, Survival, Survival Training, Wilderness Survival, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28337904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonelygirl9178/pseuds/Lonelygirl9178
Summary: The survival of human kind is at stake. They were chosen to explore a potential planet. But what will they find.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Joanna didn't know how long she has been staring out of the window into the depth of space lost in the spectacle in front of her. To her, it felt like she has been sitting for hours in front of the large window that took over the majority of the wall. She was mesmerizing by the view, even though she has seen it for the past two years, it was never boring, there was always something new to see, a new star, every now and then a meteor would pass by her window, and sometimes when she was lucky she would even catch a glimpse of an unknown planet in the black depth of space. 

Joanna had been living for the past two years on this spaceship with six others, they had been chosen to participate in this experiment. Some like herself had volunteered and others had been forced to participate. As soon as she had heard the announcement that the WISA, the Worldwide International Space Agency, was searching for candidates for a newly created program that would send them into space on the mission to find a new planet for humankind to survive on, she had immediately signed up. There was nothing more that would keep her staying on earth. Nothing. 

She soon tried to learn everything that was to find about this experiment and quickly applied to it. The program was created to find a new planet for humans to live on, as the earth was no longer capable of supporting the human population. It had been known for decades that Earth was dying and if nothing would change soon then it meant goodbye for all human and animal kind. But it was never taken seriously, politicians were talking of change, but it was never acted upon. And now it has come so far that Earth would only be able to host life hopefully for five more years if they were lucky. The global temperature had risen too much which brought catastrophic outcomes, coasts and countries had been flooded, destroying millions of homes and destroying crops. But that was not all of it, major earthquakes destroyed cities killing thousands of people, destroying everything in its path. But that was not the worst of all, poisonous gasses had been released through the cracks of the crust created by the earthquakes, making the air no longer breathable due to their toxicity. Killing not only people but also animals and plants, which lead quickly to panic and food and water scarcity. 

Everything that humans needed to survive was either becoming scarce or was already gone, the survival of humankind was and still is at stake. 

This led to the creation of the space program for the search for a new planet, the program was available in many countries all over the world which had a space program. Young adults were chosen by the program for the experiment. There was the option for people to volunteer for the program but others were forced by their parents in return for money and food. The call for people lasted only for a month, and then the participants were selected into groups of seven, based on their skills and what they had chosen to learn on their journey to the planet. Basic survival skills were thought to each and everyone, but since not everyone could excel in all the required skills they were divided that each person was responsible for a specific job. 

Two months later after the groups were formed 205 spaceships all over the world started their journey, each destined to another planet, in hope that one of them will turn out to be survivable. Every person before they entered the program had to sign a form that they willingly entered and there is no guarantee for their safety and survival. Each spaceship was made up of seven people, the engineer, the medic, the survival specialist, the technicians, a language specialist, a pilot, and a communication expert in case of extraterrestrial life forms. All the ships had enough provisions of food, water, space suits, clothing, medicine, oxygen, and everything else that was needed to survive and explore a planet and would last for several years. 

Each group had been assigned a planet, and over the course of the flight to the planet which took about two years, the group learned everything they could about the specific planet to be prepared once they landed. Joanna's group had been given the planet Gliese 667 Cc, and it was only a few more weeks until they finally would land. The entire group was excited that they soon would finally see the planet that they had learned so much about already. 

A loud ringing ripped Joanna out of her mind, she turned her head away from the window to the door behind her from which she could hear the ringing come from. She quickly stood up and ran out of her room, the loud noise leading her to the common area where she saw that the rest of her group was already there. Mira came in running last, her hair was wet and was wrapped in only a towel, a panicked was written across her face. 

"What's wrong? What happened?" Joanna asked while trying to locate where the ringing was coming from.

"What is that god awful noise?" 

"Issac, can't you turn it off?" shouted Nora over the loud ringing, in hope that she was heard. 

"I'm trying can't you see that? But I don't know what's wrong, the alert system suddenly went on." explained Issac with a rushed voice while running back and forth between the control panels placed against the wall of the common area." But I was never briefed on how to turn it off."

Felix who stood closest to the door to the cockpit, having just come from it ran back into with no explanation, the automatic door closing behind him. Meanwhile, Elias, the youngest of the group sat on the cold white tiled floor and placed his head in his hands his fingers scrunching tightly into his brown hair, and started muttering inaudible things. Every now and then Joanna could hear words such as alert, time, and constantly the word impossible, but she didn't understand what Elias meant. 

She kneeled down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, " Elias? What's going on? What's impossible?"

"You don't make any sense, if you know something please tell us!" Shouted Issac at him while staring at the many buttons in front of him hoping to find the correct one to stop the loud noise, the stress of not knowing was getting to him. Whenever a situation became too much for Issac that he could not control he started to yell and pace around. 

"It can't be. It's too early, according to my calculations we shouldn't be there yet."

"What do you mean? Are you trying to say that the alert is that we are closing in on our destination?" asked Mira quietly still clutching her towel close to her body. The only answer she got from Elias was a silent nod while he continued to mutter whisper things under his breath.

"That's impossible!" Joanna shook her head, her long hair falling into her face, which she annoyingly brushed away, and sat down next to Elias.

It was impossible.

According to the location given by the space program and the calculations from this morning they were supposed to arrive in seventeen days, and not now. 

The sound of the automatic door ripped Joanna out of her thoughts, she looked up and saw Felix step quickly back into the common room. She couldn't read his expression, he was always hard to read she found, his lips were pressed tightly together and his green eyes stared at the group settled around the room which have become his family over the last two years. 

"We are there. We will be in the planet's orbit in two hours."

“What do you mean in two hours? This morning it was still seventeen days?" Nora turned to Felix confused. 

“The space agency has just contacted me, their calculations were off based on new studies from the past week the coordinates have changed slightly, but they didn't think it would affect us so drastically. They will soon come in contact with us again before we land. We better get ready until then. We will meet in an hour to prepare for landing."

Joanna looked into the faces of the group that has become her family over the years, she could see the mixed expression, most of all excitement but also worry. They had all trained the past years for this moment, they all thought they still had days to come to terms mentally that they would soon step onto a new planet and explore it with all its dangerous and unknown things. But now it was only hours away.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as Felix had told his team to get ready for landing, he made his way to his room gathered his spare belongings in a bag and rushed back to the cockpit. He took a seat in his chair, which over the years has become his second home because of all the time he spends in it, navigating the ship through space. He didn’t have to do much, since the ship was running on autopilot at an inhuman speed so that they could reach the planet which would normally take thousands of years in only two. But every now and then he had to take over to avoid crashes with loose asteroids and other unexplainable things.

Felix was clenching his hand while staring at the sight in front of him, a small sphere in the distance coming closer and closer by the minute. They were still at least an hour away from their destination, but the planet was already in sight. If he could see it now already at such a great distance away, he can’t image how gigantic it will be once they are only a few minutes away. He unclenched his fists and brushed his fingers through is messy hair, before the alarm had started, he had been asleep, and his hair was always a mess once he woke up.

Over the two years he had grown out his hair like Issac, not because he wanted long hair, but he didn’t trust anyone enough with his hair. It might sound stupid to others, but his hair was the only thing he could control. All his live he had been told what to do, he had no control over his life, but even if it’s just hair it was something he could control. He was forced to participate in the experiment by his uncle and aunt who had been taking care of him as long as he could. They had offered him up for a huge sum of money and food as a way for him to repay his stay with them. Even though he had vowed himself to hate every second of this mission and the people he would have to stay with, he had quickly given up. The last two years of his life on this ship had been the best time of his life, yes, he had orders and a job to fulfill but he had found people that he could trust and which cared about him for the first time. They truly have become family to him.

Felix was scared to admit it, but he was terrified the second that the alarm, rung. He immediately knew what it had meant. That they had almost reached their destination, but like the others he was unprepared that it was so soon. He had hoped that he still had a few more weeks and days to get into his head the mission that they had to fulfill. Felix knew that it was going to be dangerous, so much could happen, hid friends could get hurt, and worse even die. He had hoped that the last few days before they would arrive that they could spend some more time together and tell the how much they mean to him. He was deadly afraid that this planet would take his new life from him.

Felix has never been much talkative, but he knew that the others understood that he cared for them and saw them as his family. But he was scared to show it, years living with his aunt and uncle had made him incapable and scared to show feelings and emotions towards others. But over the last months the people on the ship had thought him that it wasn’t something bad to show that he cared.

While Felix was lost in thought and trying to figure out what the right moment would be to tell his friends how truly important, they were to him, he felt a presence behind him. Frightened he quickly twisted his body, he hated people behind him. But as soon as he saw the tall figure of Mira he relaxed, she had gotten dressed in her usual black pants and dark red shirt with her favorite brown leather jacket that she had gotten from her brother.

“You alright Felix?” Mira took the empty seat next to him and turned to him.

Felix was scared that his voice would betray him and how frightened he was, so he only nodded.  
  
“Well, I am terrified” admitted the girl next to him, “And I think you are too but don’t want to admit it but that’s alright.”

Mira quickly sat up leaning her body closer to the window in front of her. “Is that it? That’s Gliese 667 CC?”

“Yeah, we still have fifty-four minutes until we arrive in its orbit.” 

“It’s going to be gigantic. All these years when I went to bed and closed my eyes, I painted this picture in my head of how the planet will look like, I always imagined it to have large coasts with water, the water would sparkle in the sunlight, and the sky would turn this mesmerizing red color while the sun would set. But know, I don’t know what to expect, I’m scared that what we will find.”

Felix continued to stare out the window at the slowly growing planet in front of him but took a hold of Mira’s cold hand and gave it a tight squeeze, which Mira returned. “Everything will be okay.” Assured Felix her.

Together they sat in silence, still holding hands, while watching the planet become larger and larger. The planet in the distance which at first was only a small glowing dot in space, quickly became larger, the glowing light turning red. It was mesmerizing to watch. It felt like time was passing by in slow motion as the two watched the planet grow in front of their eyes.

“I’m not scared, I’m terrified.” Admitted Felix quietly. “I’m scared that something will go wrong and that one of you would get hurt. I can’t lose any of you. You are my family; I don’t know what to do without you.”

“I wish I could promise you that nothing will happen, that no one is going to get hurt. And that we all will make it. But I can promise you this. Look at me Felix.” Said Mira quietly, Felix slowly turned his head towards her, and felt like his eyes were staring into her soul.” Felix, I promise you, we all will be careful and will look after each other. We won’t let anything happened to anyone. We are a family. And I won’t allow anything to happened to you, to Nora, Joanna, Issac, Elias, and Leah.”  
  
“You can’t promise me that.”

“Felix, look at me. I will and I can. We are a family, and we take care of each other. If it gets too dangerous, then fuck the mission.” Felix stared at her in shock.   
“Don’t look at me like that. You are so much more important than that stupid mission. Yes, the survival of mankind, bla bla bla. But they send children out to do their dirty work to scared to do it themselves. They don’t care if we live or not. So why should we.”

“But we can’t jus-“

“Felix, your family sold you, not caring what will happen to you. Why should they get to live? We are not the only ones on the search for a new planet. I’m sure that there will be multiple planets that will be discovered to be able to host live.” Mira’s voice echoed in the room, she had ripped her hand out of his and had started to pace in the small room, Felix eyes followed her every move.

Mira was breathing heavily, she took a deep breath and sat down again, slowly reaching for Felix’s hand again and squeezed it lightly. “I’m sorry. Sorry for bursting out like that. All I am trying to say is that we will take care of each other, no one is going to get hurt or die. You are my family too; I don’t have anyone else but you guys.”

They watched the planet grow larger, white and red colors creating intricate designs. A sudden shake overtook the ship, Felix and Mira quickly clasped the arms of their chairs to not get thrown to the floor. As quickly the shaking the began it also stopped.

“You alright?” asked Mira, the fright was still etched into her face.

“I’m good, and you? I think we are in its orbit now. The readings are giving off a large magnetic pull from the planet.” Felix was quickly scanning the numbers on the screen on the window. “We are almost there, a few more minutes and then we are going to land. Can you run to the others and inform them? Let them know we land soon and that they should get strapped in as quickly as possible. “

“Aye aye boss. I’ll let you know over the intercom once everyone is strapped in. I’ll see you soon.” Mira rushed out of the cockpit, the automatic door closing behind her, her footsteps could still be heard through the closed door.

Felix looked at the red white planet in front of him, he pressed the small blue button in his arm rest, and the metallic buckle strapped around his chest. Fear was quickly settling in his chest. The rustling voice of Mira came in through the intercom system attached to his arm broke his fear clouded mind.

_“Everyone’s buckled up, prepared for landing.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it. I really appreciate feedback. 
> 
> Enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

Joanna had just finished getting ready, she packed her bag with all the necessary things and met up with the others at the common room, only Mira was missing. They were scattered around the room a bag close by them, and each and every one had a worried expression on their face. Like herself they were scared of what would be expected of them. What they would find once they landed, would the planet be habitable, would they survive out there?

There was no going back, if this mission were a failure, and the planet is not habitable it would mean their death sentence. They would not be sent back to earth or send to another planet. The space program didn’t care enough. On their first day it was stated clearly that they only had one try. If they succeeded in finding a planet that could potentially host human life, then they had a chance to survive. But if not, there was no return planned. They would die either on the spaceship or on the planet. 

To avoid candidates backing out of exploring their planet and returning to earth, WISA set the computers destination only to the destined planet, with no way of returning. It was either the groups would find a planet to survive on or die. If a group found a planet then they were to contact WISA immediately for further instructions. But either way they would never find a way to return to earth.

“Where is Mira? Is she still packing her things up?” asked Issac.

“She’s with Felix, making sure that he isn’t going out of his mind. He looked so frightened earlier.” Answered Elias, “We all thought we would have some more time until we would arrive. I know that we keep saying yes we’re ready and can’t wait to finally get out of this metal box, but suddenly having only a few hours can mess with someone’s head.”

All of a sudden a shaking took over the ship. Everyone tried to hold on as tight as possible on the walls and chairs they sat on, but Nora fell of the table that she was seated on landing hard on the floor, she sat up and clutched her hand. “What the hell was that?”

“No clue.” Issac shrugged his shoulders.

“You alright Nora, your hand okay?” Joanna asked, looking over to Nora who still held her hand close to her chest.

“Yeah, its fine, probably just landed weird on it, will be fine in a few minutes. “

Elias got up from the floor and walked over to the ice box that was located in the kitchen area of the common room, he opened the box and filled some ice in a zip lock bag and handed it to Nora.  
“For your hand.”

“Its fine, its nothing.” But Elias was persistent and held it out to Nora until she took it with a loud sigh.  
“Thanks.” Elias gave her a quick smile and sat down next to his bag on the floor again.

“So, what do you think was that just now?” Asked Joanna into the group, she had no clue, for the whole two years that she had lived on the ship she had never experienced turbulence's like that.

“Maybe an asteroid came to close?” answered Nora, the bag of ice now laying on top of her hand.

“That wouldn’t be possible, the field around the ship would have blocked it, it must have been something else.” Said Issac.

Before the others could guess the automatic door from the cockpit opened and Mira stormed in. Something must be wrong thought Joanna; she had never seen Mira so scared before. Before she could ask Mira started talking.

“We’re there, we arriv-.“

“What do you mean we’re there?” interrupted Elias her.

“Exactly what I just said.” Answered Mira annoyed, she crossed her arms and stared into the round with sad eyes. “We just got pulled into the gravitational orbit of the planet, in the matter of minutes we will land.”

Joanna looked up at Mira, she was both scared and excited, scared that his moment had come so quickly, but also excited because she could finally fulfill her mission for which she had worked for the past years. She looked around the group but saw no excitement only worry in her friends faces.

“Buckle up. Felix has started the landing sequence.” Quickly everyone got up from the ground and grabbed their bags, they instantly went to the seats that were located on the sides of the common room. Everywhere in the ship seats were located for emergency situations, there wasn’t enough time to get to the hangar room. They pulled the seats of the wall and quickly sat down and pressed the button to buckle up as soon as Joanna pressed the button the metal straps wrapped around her locking her into her seat while clutching her bag tightly to her chest.

“Everyone’s buckled up, prepared for landing.” Mira said into her intercom system attached to her arm probably letting Felix know.

Not a minute later the ship started to shake, the cupboards in the kitchen area opened and the food and containers fell onto the floor and scattered around the room. Joanna let go off her bag and clenched her fingers around the metal wraps around her, closing her eyes trying to keep calm.

“It will be over soon just hang on tight.” Elias’s voice was hard to hear against all the loud noise that was around them. It felt like the shaking would go on forever, more and more things were thrown out of the cupboards, luckily not hitting any of them. The noise was the worst of all, Joanna felt like her eardrums would burst any moment, her ears rung loud in her head, quickly forming into a headache. She led go of the metal wrappings and clutched them against her ears in hope to relieve some of the pressure on them while clenching her eyes tightly close. She prayed that Felix was able to land the ship quickly not knowing how long her ears would go along with the pressure.

A loud crashing noise echoed around the room followed by sharp thud and then all of a sudden it was quiet. No more loud noise was coming from the engines, and the ringing n Joanna’s ears lessened as the seconds passed. She still had her eyes closed and her hands were wrapped tightly around her ears, the feeling of a hand on her shoulder made her jump. Quickly opening her eyes, she saw that Elias had placed his hand on her shoulder and was talking to her but she couldn’t hear anything that he was saying. Joanna took her hands from her ears and slowly she started to hear again, picking up the words that Elias was saying to her.

“-anna, yo… alri…Joanna!”

“Yes?”

“I was asking if you are alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Is everyone else okay?” She looked around, the common room which normally was as clean as possible was a mess, containers were thrown all around the room, cupboards were open, and somehow the bolted chairs had come loose and were laying around the room. Nora had unbuckled already and was helping Leah get the metal straps around her off which seemed to be stuck. Issac was already picking things up from the floor and placing them organized on the counters, picking up the chairs from the ground.

“Yeah, everyone’s fine. Just shaken up, metaphorically and literally.” Elias laughed slightly at his own joke; Joanna gave a slight snort.

“Here’s your bag, you must have dropped it earlier.” HE handed her bag to her which she quickly opened making sure that nothing broke. Joanna sat down on the floor and searched through her bag, she was skimming though her bag when Felix came through the automatic door from the cockpit, his brown bag held tight in his arms.  
  
“You guys all right? Sorry for the short warning, it came out of nowhere with no warning.” His brown eyes skimmed at everyone quickly making sure that everyone was alright. 

“Everything’s fine, just the food took a bit of a hit, but that’s not a problem.” Answered Mira.

A tense feeling filled the air, Joanna knew what everyone was thinking. They landed on a foreign planet and now they had to explore it and see if it was habitable by humans.

“We landed on a rocky area, but the ship should be stable. Maybe before we go outside, we should survey the outside from the windows just to make sure.”  
  
“I’ll send out some robots to take some probes of the atmosphere and the ground, find out what it is made up off.” Said Leah.

“That’s a good idea. We don’t now what we will expect out there. Better be safe then sorry. Issac if you don’t mind help Leah analyze the probes, while Nora, Joanna, and Elias survey the area from different areas of the ship. Meanwhile Mira and I will report to WISA and find out our further instructions. Let’s meet here in half an hour. If you find something suspicious or important use the intercom system.” The group nodded in agreement.

“Come let’s go.” Said Leah to Isaac, together they quickly walked towards the laboratory.   
  
“We should split up so that we can get a full view of the area.” Suggested Nora.” I’ll go to the greenhouse; there I can see both the north and south side. Elias you go to cargo room and Joanna you take the exercise area, on your way there check if anything broke.” Elias and Joanna nodded in agreement, and the three rushed to their locations.

Joanna quickly ran through the ship, stopping every now and then to see if anything broke and made her way to the exercise room. It made sense to send her there, most of the room consisted of windows where she would have a great view of the outside. She was curios of what she would find, she knew from the reports that she had studied throughout the years that Gliese 667 CC was considered a rocky planet, but she was curious to see if it would look anything like the cliffs and mountains on earth.

She pressed her keycard against the scanner next to the door and stepped into the exercise room, quickly making her way to the window, which was closed with shutters. Joanna took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself of what she was about to see.

Elias voice suddenly filled the room coming from the intercom system around her arm interrupted her from opening the shutters.

  
_“Guys. You have to see this!”_

Joanna quickly pressed the button next to her on the wall which opened the shutters of the windows exposing the outside world in front of her.


	4. Chapter 4

Leah and Issac rushed towards the laboratory which was located on the other end of the ship a floor beneath the living quarters. Leah spends most of her time in the lab, at first, she had trained to become a medic but quickly realized that it wasn’t for her, the sight of blood made her head spin and her vision blurred. She had tried to hide it as long as possible while she was training at the base, but eventually her mentors found out. Leah hated thinking back of that moment, the disappointment and anger in her mentor’s eyes, he had dragged her out of the medical bay after she had vomited her lunch up seconds after she finished stitching a patient up. He had yelled and screamed at her, she couldn’t remember what he said since her head was still spinning, and she was only focusing on not passing out then listening to her mentor scream at her. The day after it happened, she was transferred to the laboratory work. Normally transfers didn’t happen, but WISA was becoming desperate, they couldn’t waste any more time hence they decided to put her to another section instead of waste her potential.

Leah quickly excelled at her new work and caught up with the material that she had missed out on. She was trained for ten months on the base then she was placed in a group and send out to space. The people in charge believed a year worth of training was enough, since they could the participants still had two years that they could train themselves with manuals. Over the two years she had learned everything that she could, but she was scared to put her work to use now. She knew she could do it, but she was afraid to fail her friends.

She swiped her key card against the scanner of the laboratory, to which only she had access to and rushed in, Issac right behind her. While Leah quickly got to work typing in quickly things into the computer that Issac didn’t understand he looked around the laboratory. He had never been in here.

The laboratory was large, white shelves covered the walls filled with weird and unusual looking instruments which Issac didn’t recognize. Metal tables were scattered around the room, probes and other instruments littered the top. He stepped closer to one of the tables, a loud crunching sound made him stop. He lifted his foot and saw that he had stepped on a glass tube that now was shattered in several glass shards.

“Shoot.” Issac kicked the glass under the table and went over to where Leah was seated still typing into the computer, wither she didn’t hear him or didn’t care what he just said.

He pulled a chair next to Leah’s and watched in amazement numbers and letters fill up the screen which where quickly changing.

“What are we looking at?” He asked, not understanding a thing that he saw on the screen.

“Right now, I´m analyzing the atmosphere consistency, see what it composed off, so once we go outside, I can measure how much oxygen we need. See these numbers here?” She pointed to a box of numbers in the corner of her screen. “This means that its around ten degrees Celsius out there, warm and cold enough for humans to survive. But definitely colder than what we are used to, luckily our suits are insulated.”

“Can you clean that table off, the one in the center. I’ll get the robots to bring in a sample of the ground and I need some space to analyze it.”

“How will you get the probes? There are no windows in the room.” asked Issac interested.

“The robots are attached to the outside of the ship and are connected with a tube system to the laboratory rooms. They will get the probes and send them here; they will come out of the metallic box there.” Leah pointed to the metal panels that was located next to the panel of buttons that she had pressed earlier.

“Can I put the stuff just anywhere?”asked Issac.

“Yeah, wherever there is space.”   
While Issac got to work, moving all the tubes and beakers of the table, Leah stood up and walked over to the opposite side of the wall where several control panels where attached to the wall, she pressed a combination of buttons, and a quiet hum filled the quiet room.

“We should get dressed in safety gear, il grab them quickly, ill be back in a second.” Leah grabbed her keycard that she had laid next to the keyboard and left the laboratory, turning left and opening the small door next to it. The room was filled with masks, gloves, suits, googles, and other safety gear. Leah grabbed two of everything and rushed back.   
  
“Here. Get dressed. The Mask needs to sit tightly around your face and don’t get the oxygen tube twisted.”   
Issac grabbed the stuff and quickly put them on.” Why do we need put all the stuff on, do you think its toxic?”

“I’m not sure, btu better be safe. I read several reports where scientist got acid like burns after not wearing safety gear and examining rocks from space.” She was already dressed being used to quickly putting the gear on, but she saw Issac struggling with his mask. “Here. Let me help.”   
  
She reached up to his head and pulled the straps of the mask as tight as she could, Leah grabbed the oxygen tube that was attached to the back of the mask and attached it to the tank that already sat on Issac's back.   
“That should be it, are you getting enough oxygen?” Issac nodded.

“Good, it should only be a minute then the probe should be here.” Leah walked back to her computer and sat down, Issac sat down again listing to the clicking and typing coming from the girl next to him.

“Have you found anything else?”   
“It’s still analyzing the atmospheric composition, but it should only take a few more seconds. I’m really curious of its composition, all the studies and reports that I have read over the years always mentioned that the composition should be very similar to earth’s."

“In a second we will know.” Said Issac

“Yeah.” Leah gave him a quick smile, but it fell as soon as she looked at the screen.” That’s not possible! It can’t be.”

“What’s not possible?“.   
  
“There must be some mistake.” Leah wasn’t listening to Issac.

“Leah. Answer me! What’s not possible?” Leah looked at him, her eyes wide and full of excitement.

“There is 25.6% oxygen in the atmosphere. That’s more then on earth! Fascinating.”   
  
“That means we can breathe out there?” asked Issac confused.

“Maybe, I just have to see what the rest is made up off, if there are any toxic gasses or anything else harmful.” She turned back to the screen moving the mouse so fast that Issac couldn’t keep up, one of his jobs was being a computer technician but what Leah was doing was too advanced for his understanding.

“So, nitrogen and a high percentage of carbon dioxide. That’s not good. We will have to see if we can actually breathe out there. Looks like someone will need to be a guinea pig and go outside.”

The quiet humming in the background stopped and a loud peep filled the air. Isaac looked confused around the room trying to locate what that sounds was, Leah stood up and pulled her gloves on and made her way to the metallic panel. She pressed a small green button and the metal panel switched open relieving a robotic arm which held a large glass tube filled with rocks and what seemed like earth. Leah took the probe form the robotic arm as soon as she took it out the metal panel closed.

Carefully Leah placed the tube on the now empty table. Her gloved hand trembled, quickly she clenched it shut not wanting Issac to see her being scared. She opened the tube and poured half of the rocks and earth into a small container, Leah walked over to the table next to her and placed the container into a strange looking instrument which was attached to its own computer, the door quickly shut close. Leah quickly pressed some buttons, and the sound of a small engine began to roar.

Leah walked over to the other table and poured the rest of the tube onto a metal tray, knowingly pushing rocks back and forth until she had three groups of rocks, ranging from all sizes. Issac leaned over the table to get a closer look at the rocks, they seemed normal, just like the ones that he had seen on earth.

“They look normal, like the ones on earth.” Said Issac to Leah, who only nodded.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking, they seem like the three types of rocks that we have on earth. Look these are igneous rocks, that means that they were formed from magm-.”

“That means there are volcanoes here on this planet, right?” asked Issac.

“Right, and the other ones are sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. They are the same rocks that we have on earth. But something seems off about them, but I can’t tell what it is.” The beeping sound filled the air, Leah turned to the machine that she had placed the rocks in. She took the rocks out and placed them to the side turning her attention to the screen in front of her.

“What is it saying?”

“Just like we said, rocks also common to earth. But the data is also showing an anomaly, but that cant be right.” She shook her head confused not believing what she’s reading.

“There is neon in the composition of the rocks.”

“What? But that would mean that they would be glowing, but they aren’t.”

Leah stood up and walked to the entrance door, switching off the light, trying to answer her suspicion, as soon as the lights were off, and the laboratory was covered in darkness her suspicion confirmed. The small probes of rocks on both tables were glowing in green, purplish and yellow tones illuminating the laboratory in fine light.

“Wow. I haven’t seen anything like that.” Whispered Issac quietly to himself.

“Me neither.” Leah turned on the light again and walked over to Isaac and sat down again, she placed her head on the table and began to think. A few minutes past in silence until Leah sat up again.

“It seems like the planet is very similar in composition as earth, but I think we will find some more surprises like these. How much time do we have until we meet with the others again?”  
  
“Maybe ten minutes?”

“We should head to the common room already, there is nothing else to analyze at the moment. We need more probes but that can take its time.” said Leah, she stood up and walked with fast steps to the door. “Come let’s change back. “

Issac followed her out of the laboratory, together in the hall they took of their masks and safety gear and placed them back in the small storage room. Side by side they walked slowly back to the common room.

“What do you think the others found out?” asked Leah.

“No clue but it can’t be weirder than glowing rocks, right?” joked Issac smiling.

“We’ll see.” The smile on Leah’s and Issac face stayed until they entered the common room. It was still a mess, food and containers still littered the floor, some placed on the counter, but the chairs were still thrown on the ground.  
  
“We should clean up here until the others come.” Issac said, he quickly grabbed a chair and placed it back next to the table. Together they cleaned the common room waiting for their friends to come and tell them their findings.


	5. Chapter 5

“We should try to contact WISA immediately, they will tell us our next steps.” Said Felix quietly more to himself then to Mira.

Mira nodded agreeingly. ” They probably know already that we landed, we should hurry before they make contact and criticize us for taking so long to make contact with them.” They continued walking together to the cockpit, the automatic doors opening as soon as Felix placed his keycard to the scanner. It was dark, the window that normally showed the depth of space littered with bright stars was closed, a metal screen had formed against the window shielding it from the impact on the foreign planet.

“Computer, turn on the lights.” Commanded Felix, suddenly the room was filled with bright light and the buttons that had glowed in the dark faded. Mira looked to the floor and bit her lip.” It’s probably best if you only do the talking Felix.”

“What why?” Felix turned to her confused.

“You are the captain of the ship, so you have the highest authority and well I. Ugh this is stupid forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”   
“Spit it out Mira.”

“Its stupid.” Felix gave her a sharp look. “Fine, I just think that they don’t like me particularly much, the last time I had contact with WISA it didn’t end on a good note, and I don’t want you to get in trouble with me saying something stupid. That’s why you should do the talking.” Admitted Mira, her face bright red, ashamed of she had just said. Issac looked at her but kept silent, he didn’t know what to say.

“Come, lets get this over with.” HE squeezed her shoulder lightly and took a seat in his chair, Mira reluctantly sat next to him, she pulled her clothing neat and brushed her hair with her hand nervously.

“It will be over in a minute. Then I won’t have to hear their voices ever again.” Mira muttered silently to herself.” Felix pressed some buttons on the panel in front of him, as soon as he leaned back the black screen lit up and a pixilated image came to view which became clearer and clearer by the second. A middle-aged woman with shoulder long red hair appeared, her face stern and her eyes seemed to be able to stare through the screen into Mira soul.

“Commander, the Gliese 667 CC ship has landed, three minutes ago we made contact with the ground, our team has split up, analyzing the atmospheric composition, the landscape while we are here to get our instructions.” The loud and clear voice of Issac echoed through the room. The Commander looked pleased, she leaned back and brought her hand to her face.

“Those are very good news 667-1. You and your team are on of the first to land on the designated planet. I don’t need to say it out loud, but I expect every finding to be immediately send to me, even the slightest chance of survival on this planet you will report to me. The situation on earth is dire.” Issac looked down, he had forgotten how the Commander and her people addressed the children that they had send to space. The name he had been given as soon as he had entered the program was 667-1, made up of the planets number and his position in the team, one meaning captain. Issac tried not to show how much this name bothered him, he was just a number for them, not a person, just a variable that they could manipulate to do their dirty work.

“Yes, commander as soon as we find something you will know immediately. How should we step forward?” he asked.

“667-5.” Mira looked up at the sound of her number coming from the commander, while Issac and the Commander had exchanged words she had looked down trying to avoid bringing attention to herself.

"Yes commander?" 

  
“Leave the room.” Mira wanted to argue that she had every right to hear what the commander was about to say, but she knew that it would only bring her trouble, with a last look at Felix she walked out of the cockpit.

“There was no need to send her out commander, she has every right to hear what the instructions are, she is risking her life same as me.” Felix stood up and paced being his chair.

“Sit down 667-1, you are acting like a child. You will listen and do what I tell you. Understood?”

“I understand.” Issac replied quietly.

“Good, now you and your team are to exit the ship and explore the near perimeter of ship, search for a water source, over the period of days expand your perimeter. If you find chances of a life form on this planet contact me immediately.”  
“Life forms? You believe that the planet is already hosting life?” Issac looked at the commander in shock.

“Yes the latest reports have confirmed our believe that life us possible on this planet. Under no circumstances are you to tell your team, do you understand 667-1. If you find instances of life you are to report immediately, do not make contact. Wait for further instructions.”  
“But, i cant keep that from my team. They have a right to know that there could potentially be life out there that could become dangerous to them once they exit the ship.”

“That is a chance that we are willing to take. “ Issac looked in disbelief at the commander, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“That’s a chance you are willing to take?” repeated Issac. “You are risking the life of my team not caring that they could get hurt or worse die?”

“667-1, yes. IT might be difficult for you to understand, but its for the greater good. IF this planet turns out to be able to host human life then back up will be send to you, which can replace your team if you loose someone. Why do you think we chose children for this? You are expendable, us adults are not.”   
“But th-“

“But be assured we will try our very best to keep you all alive, it takes more then just one person to explore a planet. But take it as a warning, if you or anyone on your team thinks they can mess with the results or stray from instructions, we see no reason not to dispose of you. Do you understand” asked the commander with a sickly sweet voice. Issac kept silent, the information that he had just gotten spun in his mind.

“Do you understand 667-1? Answer me!” demanded the commander.

Even though the woman was lightyears away Issac feared of what she was capable of. He answered with a quiet voice but refused to look at the commander. “I understand.”

Once he uttered those words the screen went blank, Issac let himself fall in his chair, his hands brushed his long hair out of his face and his fingers grabbed onto his strands until he felt pain. The pain made his mind clear, it helped him think. What was he going to do? He can’t hide something important like that to his team, but what if the commander finds out that he told them.  
Issac released the hold he had on his hair, and mentally screamed as loud as he could. Why did he have to be put in such a situation. He was ripped out of thins thoughts, the automatic door opened, and he could hear quiet footsteps come closer.

“Issac?” asked Mira, “Are you okay? What did the commander say?”

He looked up at her, he could tell that she was worried, her fingers nervously pulled at her nails. “I’m fine, just fine. I’ll tell you later once the others are here.”  
“But wh-“

“I’ll tell you later!” yelled Felix loudly at her, Mira flinched away from him, she had never heard him yell. “Shit. I’m sorry Mira. I didn’t want to yell. I’ll tell you later, I promise. “

“Alright. Let’s head back, the others are waiting already.” She said quietly and rushed out of the room as quick as she could.

“Shit.” He fucked up, he should have just told her, but he wasn’t certain if he they were listened to. Issac made up his mind, he would tell his friends of his findings once they left the ship, he didn’t want to risk the chance of the commander somehow finding out that he had broken his promise. With his mind made up he grabbed his key card and walked out of the cockpit to the common room where his friends were waiting with findings and his instructions.


	6. Chapter 6

Joanna stood mesmerized in front of the window; she couldn’t pull her eyes away from the sight in front of her. She had painted a picture in her mind before she went to sleep over the past years to image how the landscape of Gliese 667 CC would look like, but she never thought it would look anything like this. The sky was light blue streaked with purple foggy clouds, through the clouds a bright red circle shined through making it seem like the clouds were glowing purplish red. “That must be the red dwarf star that this planet is orbiting around” said Joanna quietly to herself, the sight of the star shining through the clouds was captivating to watch. It was so different then staring at the sun on earth.

But the red sun was not the only object that Joanna saw in the sky. In the distance a large planet was visible, green, and red streaks blurred together with several large grey rings formed around the unknown planet, the shape of the planet reminded Joanna of the planet Saturn. She was definitely going to study the planet visible in the distance some more over the next few days.

From what Joanna could see while staring out of the window from the exercise room, is that the ship had landed on an elevated rocky platform. The rock was a strange deep red color, reminding her of the Red Cliffs in Utah. She had visited the cliffs with her family when she was younger, the odd red color of the rocks Joanna could never forget, she had stared at it while her parents were having one of their usual fights. The red colored rocks covered almost the entire landscape until the horizon, deep cuts were embedded into the stone. The cuts stood out against the red color of the rock, it seemed like small caves laid under the rock. Maybe there was a tunnel and cave systems under the rocks? Far in the distance Joanna could see a neon blue colored river snaking itself through the rocks. The bright blue of the water seemed unnatural and clashed against the red colored rock. The almost glowing color of the water was magnetic to Joanna’s eyes, she couldn’t take her eyes of it.

“Well that already confirms that there is water on this planet, but that color, it seems off.” Muttered Joanna to herself. She continued to look at the landscape searching for anything else visible except for the rocky landscape which seemed to cover the entire area and the river which snakes itself through the landscape. But Joanna couldn’t see anything else, at least nothing she could see with her bare eyes. She had left her binoculars in her room but didn’t want to waste her time searching for it and missing anything that would be important to report.

Joanna continued to search the landscape but didn’t find anything else other than the rocks and the rover. Joanna hoped that the others would find something more interesting, she turned to the clock hanging next to her. She had five more minutes until they would all meet up again, with slow steps she headed back to the common room, trying to waste a bit of time so that she didn’t have to wait around to long. If there was one thing that Joanna hated, then it was waiting and wasting time. She had learned throughout her life that time was precious and should be handled with care. A person only has a limited time to live, why waste it with useless things. She continued to walk through the ship, it was quiet like always, but for some reason this silence felt off, usually Joanna could hear the quiet hums of the engines but now they were silent.

As she stepped into the common room, she saw that she was the last one to come, everyone else was already there. Felix sat away from the group who were seated around the table and the counter of the kitchen. It was nothing unusual that Felix was seated apart from them but the way that he stared at the ground and clenched his fists something must be up. Joanna walked straight to the larger room, who were excitedly talking with one another, probably over their findings.

“Joanna, there you are. I was just about to ask where you were.” Issac said once he saw her.

“Sorry, if I had known that everyone was here already, I would have hurried up.”

Felix stood up and walked over to his team and leaned against the kitchen counter next to Issac.

“Leah what did you find? Anything interesting?” asked Felix, his head turned to the tall girl seated across from him.

“Issac and I looked up at the composition of the atmosphere. There is a higher percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere than on earth. Which means that technically we should be able to breath out there. But we should test it first just in case there is some sort of toxicity that my reader couldn’t find.”

“But that’s good news, right?” asked Mira hopefully. “That means that this planet could be able to host life correct? Which means that we have stepped up into the category. We found a planet with oxygen.”

“Yes, but we should not get our hopes up to high yet. Let’s test it first before we send out a report.” Agreed Felix with Leah. “Anything else that you found?”

“We found that the roc-“  
“The rocks are freaking glowing!” interrupted Issac Leah.

“What do you mean that they are glowing?” Elias looked confused at the pair.  
“Exactly what I just said. They are freaking glowing when you turn of the lights. One it turns dark the rocks will start a lightshow in all sorts of colors.” Issac answered annoyed.

“I’m curious if all rocks or only a specific type of rock starts to glow.” Muttered Nora quietly into the group.

“Anything else?” asked Felix.

“Only that the rocks that we analyzed are the same types like on earth meaning that some of them were created through magma which is only possible through volcano's. But otherwise, nothing else, I need more time and more probes to find more things.” Answered Leah.

“What about the landscape? Nora, Elias, Joanna what did you find?” Felix turned to the them and looked at them expectantly.

“It’s incredible!”  
“Nothing like earth.”  
“Literally otherworldly, its unlike anything you have ever seen.” The three of them said at once.

“We have landed on a rock like platform, it’s deep red with deep cuts in them, it reminds me of the red cliffs of Utah.” Informed Joanna the group.” And there is a river close by.”

“A river you say? I didn’t see any” asked Nora.

“Yeah, it’s snaked around the rocks in the distance. To be honest it looks weird, I’m not sure if its normal but the water is almost like this bright neon blue color. It looks unnatural. Once we get there Leah should take a sample and test it. But otherwise, I couldn’t see anything else from the exercise room”

“I looked from the greenhouse, it’s the opposite view from what Jo could see. Its like a different world then what Jo saw. In the distance there is a large forest, the trees must be gigantic. They must be six or seven times the size of average earth trees. With the binoculars I could see that they are carrying some sort of fruit, they were bright blue and looked kind of like apples.”

“Maybe they are edible?” asked Mira.

“Who knows?” answered Leah with a smile.

“There are also large grass land areas around the forest that seem to for stretch miles. But no rocks in the distance, a few meters from what I could tell until a sharp cliff is visible.”

“What about you Elias? What did you find?” asked Mira.

“Same as Nora, large grass areas and rocks. But not like the rocks that we landed on. They are huge, grey whitish color they are spread all around. But other than that, nothing else.” Elias looked disappointed with his findings.

“What about you Felix? What did the commander say? What are our instructions?” The group turned expectantly to Felix, he was still leaning on the counter and looked down at the floor.

“The commander is pleased that we have landed. As we already know we are expected to explore the surrounding area. Any sign of life or anything that would allow humans to survive on this planet the commander expect to be reported immediately. That means Leah, after we finished here you quickly write up a report tell them about the oxygen composition in the atmosphere. After that we go out an explore until it gets dark.” Mira looked intensely at Felix, he was still looking down at the floor, like he was on purpose trying to avoid looking at his friends. Something was up with him, Mira was sure of it, he wasn’t telling them everything.

“If there isn’t anything else to discuss, ill write up the report quickly. Hopefully, it won’t take up too much time. Ill intercom you guys once I am done with the report. Alright?” With these words Leah stepped away with fast steps back into her lab, she abruptly stopped. “Issac, can you come with me. I need your help with something.” Issac looked confused at her but he quickly walked after her.

“While we wait for Leah and Issac to finish, we should get ready. Just to be safe put on your suits on then we will meet at the gate.” Announced Felix, as soon as he was done talking, he headed towards his room.

“You heard the man. Let’s go.” Elias and the others left the common room and headed to their rooms to get ready. In less then an hour they would leave the safety of their spaceship and explore the foreign planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it! I appreciate feedback!


	7. Chapter 7

It didn’t take long for the entire group to meet in the entrance gate dressed in their space suits, they were bulky and uncomfortable, and the helmets didn’t make it any better. Even though nobody voiced it, Mira could feel the uncertainty in the air. They were just about to go out of their spaceship and step foot on an unexplored planet. So much could happen and go wrong. What if there was life out there praying on them to come out and kill them. What if the second they step out they would vaporize into nothing because of something unknown in the air. Mira didn’t want to think of all the things that could happen in just a minute, but while she was terrified, she was also excited. Yes, many things could go wrong but it’s a once in a lifetime experience exploring a foreign planet. From what she has heard from Joanna, Elias, and Nora the planet must be similar but also very different from earth and she was curious to see it with her own eyes.

“You all ready?” asked Felix into the round and nods answered his question,” since we don’t know too much of the atmosphere yet, I’ll go outside first and let you know if everything is alright. When I give you the signal you come outside?” He turned to Leah who stood next to the gate beside her a small lever which opened the gate and gave her a nod.

Leah in response pushed down the lever and the metallic door opened loudly revealing a small ramp. Felix made his way down the ramp with quick steps, while he clenched his fists, he took one last step, and he could feel under his feet solid and rocky ground. Behind him the metal gate shut close.

He took several more steps into the outside and looked up. The view in front of him was breathtaking, it was slightly color distorted because of the helmet that he was wearing but nothing not even the descriptions from his friends could have prepared him for the view in front of him. “Holy hell,”

The rock underneath him was a deep unnatural red color, like Joanna has said the ship was landed on a large rocky hill. Not to far in the distance the rocks stopped and was replaced by a large grass area, the yellow greenish grass swayed slowly in the wind. In the distance he could see the beginning of a trees, or what Felix thought would be trees, even though the trees were so far away he could tell that they were unnaturally huge. He looked high up into the sky, mesmerized by the purple clouds in the blue sky, the bright red sun shining through the purple clouds giving them a magical feeling.

Mira and the others were impatiently waiting for a response from Felix, he had been outside for several minutes now but hasn’t given a sign for them to either close the gate or come outside.

“Hey Felix? Are you still alive? Do you want us to come outside? Felix? Can you hear us? Please respond!” said Mira into the intercom system waiting for an answer. It seemed like forever until the voice of Felix was heard through the intercom system.  
“Come outside. It’s safe for now.”

“You heard Felix, lets go outside.” Leah pushed the lever next to her down again, and the gate opened once again revealing the small ramp. With quick steps the group walked down and set foot on the rocky landscape. Like Felix the rest of the groups stared astonished at their new surroundings.

The next few minutes the group took in the landscape in front of them and were mesmerized. Together they walked around the ship and saw how the landscape changed. The grass and tree area disappeared and changed into a rocky landscape, deep cuts twisted around the rocks, and far in the distance they could see the neon blue river snake around the rocks and cliffs. The green-red planet that Joanna had described was gigantic, its multiple gray rings were incredible, it was unlike anything they had ever seen.

Once they took in the entire landscape around them, they formed into a group again at the ramp of the ship.

“We should form groups of two and three, if we are to explore a bit more.” Said Nora.

“Yeah, we should not go explore alone, in case that something happens.” Elias agreed and looked at Felix expectantly.

“Let’s do the same groups as before. Mira and me, Issac and Leah, and Nora, Joanna and Elias form a gro-. “

“Actually, I would suggest that someone stays with the ship. Just to be safe.” Leah interrupted Felix. “Like that we will have three groups of two and one can stay with the ship and look after it.”  
“What you think, aliens will conquer our ship while we head out and explore?” Issac snorted, Leah turned to him and even though he couldn’t see her face he just knew that she was scowling at him.

“All I am saying is better safe then sorry. We don’t know what’s out there. Okay? And I rather be prepared for the worst then be reckless. Just because we think we are alone here, doesn’t mean that we are.”

“Leah is right.” Joanna said agreeing.” It’s best if someone stays behind.”

“Any volunteers?” asked Leah into the round, she was sure that no one would speak up, who would give up the chance to firsthand explore the planet which they have trained for the past years. She was surprised when Elias volunteered. “I’ll stay here.”

Leah turned to him.” Are you sure Elias?”

“Yeah. It’s best if I stay here. I’m not trained as well as you for the outside survival. It makes sense.” Reasoned Elias, it made sense for him to stay, through out his years at WISA he had the least amount of survival training of all of them. Instead WISA focused his time on his studies on medicine. They didn’t see it as important for the medic to learn survival skills, hence Elias didn’t see himself as useful as the others.

“Alright, Elias is staying with the ship. Then I would say the rest of the groups stay the same. From our reports we know that the sun starts to set five hours. It is now four o’clock, lets meet back at the ship at eight. Since we don’t know to much about the solar period, yet we shouldn’t push our luck. There will be enough time to explore in the next days.” Said Felix, he was itching to get going, he couldn’t wait to get away from the ship and stop getting the feeling like he was being watched.

“Can Issac and I get the river section? I want to take some samples and I can meanwhile already test the water when I’m there.” Leah asked, the river that she has seen from the distance was fascinating to her, and she was curious if there were connections between the water almost glowing and the rocks that she had tested earlier.

“So, Leah and Issac go to the river section, Joanna and Nora you go to the grass section, and Mira and I will go to the trees.” Felix listed the groups and their sections.

“Since our compasses aren’t working here because of the magnetic pull, I would recommend laying a path so that you find you way back.” suggested Nora.

“Kinda like the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel.” Nora and the rest of the group had to laugh at Elias answer.

“Exactly like Hansel and Gretel, Elias! Just don’t use your bread.” Nora laughed.

“Alright then, lets get on our way. If you find anything interesting or weird report it immediately. And be careful. We don’t know if and what is out there.” Felix announced, he gave a quick wave to his friends and turned his back and started walking past the huge spaceship which has been his home for the past years to the direction of the trees.

“See you soon.” Mira smiled, even though the others couldn’t see her face and followed Felix.

“Well let’s get going. See you Elias. Don’t get to bored.” Nora and Joanna said their goodbyes and started heading off.

“Oh, I won’t, I have more then enough to do.” Yelled Elias after the two girls and got loud laughs as an answer.

“Let me know what you find with the water Leah.”   
“Will do Elias. See you.”

“Be careful you two.” Elias waved at Issac and Leah as they got on their way.

Elias stayed a few more minutes outside on the platform watching as the silhouettes of his friends became smaller and smaller in the distance. Soon he couldn’t see them anymore, so Elias looked at the sky once more, the red bright sun was hidden behind thick purple clouds which spread through the entire sky. With one last look in the distance Elias walked up the ramp scanned his card and pulled the leaver, loudly the gate opened, and he stepped through, as soon as Elias was inside the gate slammed shut again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it. I really appreciate feedback.
> 
> Enjoy


	8. Chapter 8

Mira and Felix carefully climb down the rocky platform, with every step leaving the ship further behind them as they walked into the unknown. Although the way down the rock wasn’t too steep but it was still very slippery, every now and then one of the two would slip on a loose rock, luckily the entire way down they were able to keep their balance, with the weight of their bags and wearing the spacesuit it wouldn’t be too easy to get up again without help.

Both teens were out of breath as they reached the bottom of the rock. Their year long stay on the ship had drastically reduced their physical endurance which both clearly noticed. 

“God, I need a break.” Heaved Felix loudly, he was exhausted and tired. 

“Yeah me too. We should have gotten more exercise on the ship.” Felix nodded agreeing. 

“Let’s take a quick stop here, there are some rocks here that we can sit on and rest before we make our way to the trees.” 

Mira unclipped her bag from her back and placed it on the ground, it was unusually heavy and looked into the distance. She was able to see the trees far in the distance, a large grass area laid between them and their destination. The grass swayed slightly in the wind, it wasn’t neatly cut like on earth where it was short only a few centimeters tall and bright green. No, the grass here was at least hip high, green and yellow, it looked dry. 

“Do you think it rains here?” she asked starring at the yellow dry grass in the distance, Felix looked at her confused. “ I mean there is a river, so yes there is water, but do you think the rain here on this planet is like on earth?” 

Felix shrugged he didn’t know an answer to her question. There were so many things that they don’t know yet about this planet, but time was running out quickly. The commander was desperate for quick answers, the situation on earth seemed direr than he and the others had expected. And then there was the big elephant in the room which he hadn’t told Mira and the others yet. The very high potential of life forms on this planet. Felix knew that he should tell the others as soon as possible, but he was scared of the other reactions. They all hadn’t prepared for interacting with life forms, during their preparations over the years they had learned that there was a very small change that one of the teams could come in contact with life. But why did it have to be them? 

The commander had told him not to tell his team, that there would be severe consequences for him, but he couldn’t just let them run into a trap without warning them. God, what was he supposed to do? 

“Felix?” 

“Hm?” 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing” 

“Common don’t lie to be. I have known you long enough that I can tell when something is up with you. You’re being silent and your mind is turning big wheels.” 

Felix looked over to her but stayed silent, he wanted to tell her, he hated keeping secrets but how could he tell her: Hey so just so you know while we are out here, there is a high chance that we will encounter extraterrestrial life. But don’t worry, the commander told me to befriend them. 

He didn’t know if he should risk it and tell her, it would be for the best but there might be the change then that Mira would refuse to continue exploring the planet and potentially risking coming over as a threat to the unknown life out there.

He sighed loudly and looked Mira in her eyes. “ I want to tell you something, Mira. But I, uhm I.” 

“What is it, Felix? What do you want to tell me?” Mira looked confused at him, it was weird how he was acting.

“I can’t tell you, I want to but I just can’t.”

“Common cut the bullshit, Felix. Just say what you want to say. Normally you have no problem saying your opinion no matter how harsh it is.” Mira demanded annoyed. 

“I really want to tell you, but I was commanded not to tell anyone.” 

“By who? The commander?” Mira said aggressively, and stood up, and started pacing every now and then kicking annoyed a rock with her boot. 

“Yes her, and exactly because of how you are reacting I didn’t want to tell you. I mean I do want to tell you but- oh for fucks sake why is this so difficult.” Yelled Felix, his fingers brushing aggressively through his hair. 

Mira stopped pacing and looked at Felix, he was still seated on his rock, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands were tightly curled into his hair 

“Felix just tell me! What the hell do you want to say?” Mira yelled at him. 

“There is life on this planet.” Felix whispered so quietly that Mira wasn’t sure that she heard right. 

“Life? Here on this planet?” Felix nodded silently. “How is that possible? We were never informed about life forms on this planet. This changes everything, our entire task of exploring this planet.” 

“I know, which is why I wanted to tell yo-.” 

“Why didn’t you sooner? Why didn’t you tell the others when we were still on the ship? Are you insane Felix? What happens if Nora, Joanna, Issac, or Leah encounter one of them? They could get hurt. Do you understand that on any level?” 

“I couldn’t tell you sooner Mira. The commander forbids me from telling any of you, she made this comment that she would know if I would tell any of you and that there would be consequences. So, I wanted to wait until we get away from the ship, in case that she listens in on the ship's frequency. The others were too close to the ship, I couldn’t tell them then.”

“Felix, what the hell would she be able to do? She is twenty-three light years away, and we are here, stranded on this god forbidden planet.” Mira took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. God, Felix usually is smart but now she could kill him for his stupidity.” Here is the plan, we continue our way to the trees, and while we walk there you will contact the others and tell them that there is a high chance of life on this planet. Do you understand me, Felix?” 

“Yes.” Felix looked down on the ground.” I’m sorry I didn’t think Mira.” 

“Just because you are apologizing doesn’t mean that I’m not mad at you anymore. Do you understand Felix that you just risked your friend’s life because you are too scared of the commander and her so called consequences?” Mira looked sharply at him, she walked over to the rock that she had sat on and picked up her bag strapping it tightly on her bag again.” Come on, let’s go we still have a long way ahead of us.” 

Felix sighed loudly picked up his bag and followed Mira who was walking ahead of him with fast steps. Jup she is still angry. He fastened his steps to close the gap between him and the girl that he trusted everything with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Enjoy

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like this story. I really appreciate feedback. Enjoy!


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